


How to Survive Exam Season

by snowkatze



Category: Carry On - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Awkward Crush, Fluff, Getting Together, High School Teachers, M/M, Normal AU, Teacher AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-16 04:30:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11246349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowkatze/pseuds/snowkatze
Summary: Simon works as a teacher in a high school and has a crush on another one of the teachers, Baz. When Simon is in a desperate situation, Baz decides to help out.





	How to Survive Exam Season

**Author's Note:**

> This one is dedicated to everybody who is stressed right now and to everybody who has to write exams at the moment.

“Snow?”  
Oh no. Fuck no. It's the voice of Mister Sexy. (That's not his name. Except he might possibly be the most handsome person I've ever seen.)

I turn around, slowly, because there's the silly hope that he might not see me if I don't make any sudden movements. He's already seen me. Maybe he's right when he says I'm stupid.

And there he stand in the corridor, looking absolutely perfect, which isn't fair. Because right now I'm wearing the ugly yellow T-Shirt that's a bit stained with paint and that I usually only wear to sleep. Also, I'm pretty sure there are cobwebs stuck in my hair. So basically I look like I have never heard of the existence of mirrors and he looks like the definition of stunning.

And that's just great. Couldn't have gone any better. Except now the urge to bang my head against the wall has increased by four hundred percent. (He would know. He's a maths teacher – history, too, and politics, but I swear if you could choose more than three subjects, he'd be qualified to teach any subject in school. I'm not making that up, I saw in his qualifications that he can speak five different languages. I mean, it's not like I've been stalking him. It's just that I happened to stumble across them. Somehow. And I saw him play football with the sports teachers. He's really good at it. I'm just searching for something he's  _not_ perfect at.  _Not stalking him, Crowley._ )

Anyhow, the reason why I want to bang my head against the wall.  
“Why are you under the staircase?”  
_And_ why I'm under the staircase.

“I was... looking for something.”  
He raises his eyebrow at me.

“What could you possibly have been looking for under the staircase?”  
His voice is dripping from sarcasm.

“Your friend Ryder the spider, perhaps? Because I think you've found him.”

That's when I notice there's a little spider crawling up my arm.  _Oh._ I find it quite endearing, so I watch it for a bit before setting it on the ground. When I look up, I find him sneering in disgust.

So, here's the thing. Baz (that's what his sister calls him) thinks I'm an imbecile. And to be honest, it's not entirely unjustified.

Let's just say, my conversation starters aren't the best. Example.

“H-hey, could you maybe tell me where the library is?”  
“Two months into the school year and you still don't know where the fucking library is?!”  
Okay. So maybe that makes me seem stupid, but to be fair I had a great plan to engage Baz in a conversation about books on the way. Then again, I probably shouldn't have asked him that question when the library was just around the corner. So.

Then there was the time I asked him how to spell the word 'accommodation'. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, very slowly: “Snow? Aren't you an English teacher?”

I really didn't know how to spell it in that moment, but it probably wasn't the best thing to ask him. Now he thinks I'm incompetent as well. Which is honestly just an awesome new fact he can add to his list of reasons why he should never talk to me ever again. So really, I'm not losing much by him catching me under the staircase. And it's not even that I'm so awkward and acting kind of dumb  _all the time._ It's just his presence that makes me act like a total fool. I just suck at flirting.

This time, though, it really doesn't have anything to do with him. I might have done something incredibly stupid. With consequences. And I'm trying to fix it before anyone notices what's gone wrong. But I guess I can't hide it from him any more. I could just tell him, as an excuse, that I just really like spending time in narrow, dark spaces, but I guess that would be the even weirder option.

_Weird as fuck_ is not on his list yet. (Or so I think.)

“I was looking for... the ungraded exam papers of the tenth-graders.”  
“Snow. You. Didn't - “

“Don't call me that.”  
“Oh, I'm sorry, _Mister_ Snow. But did you just say _you lost ungraded exam papers?_ ”

Baz is also a bit intimidating at times. He takes his coffee black without sugar or milk and drinks it on a table that's a bit separate from the others. The other teachers call him  _a bit creepy._ (I think he wants them to think that.) I call him  _attractively mysterious._ But he would probably skin me if he knew that.

“My students are going to hate me.”  
Suddenly, his eyes soften.

“Calm down, Simon. I'm going to help you look for the papers. They can't be gone, right?”

“I guess,” I say insecure, because really, I'm not sure at all where they could be. Maybe I left them on the bus and they just drove away somewhere. Maybe somebody found them and fed them to his dog. Who knows what happened.

“I swear, when this is over, I'll make sure to never lose exam papers again. I'll protect them like my own son!”  
“You don't have a son.”  
“Then... I'll just protect them like my sour cherry scones.”  
He shoots me a sideways glance and smirks at me.

“Right... You're very protective of your scones.”  
“Hey! Name one food that is better than sour cherry scones!”

“Hmm... roast beef, maybe?”  
“I – ehm. Yes. I – I mean. No! That's just a close second.”

Baz laughs and I think that maybe I haven't blown it completely.

“Why did you look beneath the staircase, though? How would the papers have got there?”  
“I don't know,” I say and throw my arms up in desperation. “It was just the only place I hadn't looked yet.”

We go look around the whole school, which is what I did before, with the difference that Baz has a strategic plan. (Of course he does.)

And we talk, which is really nice. We get along better than I expected and my heart does annoying fluttery things. (Damn it. I'm twenty-nine. I'm supposed to be past this.)

We spend two hours looking for the exams and I start panicking again. If I don't find the papers, the students are going to have to write the exam again and that just isn't fair.

“Baz,” I say, sighing, and sit down on the stairs. We've looked everywhere. Where else could they be? Baz sits down next to me, with a great distance between us. (Did he do that on purpose?)

He looks kind of nervous and I want to know what he's thinking. Why did he spend so much of his time with me? I thought he hated me. Or at least disliked me.

“I just – this wasn't supposed to happen. I can't even – I mean – I was going to grade them in the staff room and then I got distracted by a phone call and somehow – I mean – at least I _thought_ that's where I saw them last. It could've been anywhere. This is terrible. They should just fire me.”  
“Simon -”  
“No. I'm serious. I don't deserve to be a teacher. I'm terrible. Nobody can ever trust me with their exam papers again.”  
“Simon.”

I look up.

“You called me Simon,” I whisper.

“I... have a confession to make.”  
He averts his eyes and he looks a bit guilty. My heart beat speeds up. What's wrong? What's he going to say? He saw an angry student that I once gave a bad grade steal the papers for revenge and Baz watched them burn up? Baz _himself_ took the papers and burned them so I would stop making awkward advances? I mean. Probably not. But still.

Baz takes a deep breath.

“I – I found your exam papers yesterday. I was going to give them to you, but then I forgot about it.”  
“W-what? Why didn't you tell me? We just went looking for them for two hours!”  
“I'm – I'm sorry. I just. I just wanted to spend time with you. I used it just as an excuse to talk to you.”  
“But why would you – I mean –“  
I'm really, really confused (and a bit angry) for a second. Then, I realize what this means.

“Oh.”  
“Yeah.”  
He's fidgeting with his sleeves and still won't look me in the eyes.

“I'm really sorry. I'll get them for you immediately.”  
I can just stare at him in shock.

“Look,” he says. “I get it. Let's just pretend this didn't happen. I go back to my side of the staff room and you go back to yours and we'll never talk to each other again. I know you don't like me. I shouldn't have done that.”

He stands up really quickly and walks away. I snap out of my trance and rush after him.

“Baz,” I exclaim and stop him. He blushes. (I'm totally not freaking out right now. He _likes_ me.)

“You're – you're so silly. You pretended we were looking for exam papers for two hours. That's – that's so silly.”  
He turns away, obviously ashamed of himself.

“Yeah, well, I'm not the best at... talking to people. It won't happen again, don't worry. I'll just -”

“You're so silly,” I say and giggle. “You thought I didn't like you.”

“What – what do you mean?”  
“I _mean_ ,” I grin. “Do you want to go on a date with me?”  
His face turns even redder and he looks completely flustered.

“A- a date – as in – ehm. Y-yes. I mean. Yes.”

I think I've found it. The one thing Baz isn't perfect at. I take his hand and his eyes widen (it's really, really adorable) and I love it all the same.

 


End file.
